


On the Moon Above

by probsnothawkeye



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Mostly Canon Compliant, No beta we kayak like Tim, and needed an outlet for this story, because i'm half chinese, i dont even know how to begin tagging this, just the slightest bit of angst in there, martin is half chinese in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28901190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probsnothawkeye/pseuds/probsnothawkeye
Summary: Jon frowned, seemingly unsatisfied by Martin’s answer. "Which do you think is the truth?""Pardon?""About her motive. Why would she take the elixir of immortality?" Jon seemed particularly troubled by this, surprising Martin. "Was she really so selfish as to leave him behind?""I don't think she would leave him on purpose," Martin said, smiling fondly at Jon. "She loved him. You don't just leave those you love without good reason."orI rewatched Over the Moon and got sad about Chang'e and Hou Yi again and decided to project that onto Jon and Martin
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	On the Moon Above

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!  
> I don't have any explanation for this fic other than the fact that Over the Moon makes me feel things and I needed to process those feelings somehow  
> Chang'e and Hou Yi's story was something I heard only a few times as a child, but it's still a myth I greatly enjoy and I wanted to write something with it that could have a happy ending, hence this  
> As I mentioned in the tags, I'm half Chinese (I'm also half Puerto Rican) but since I'm also American a lot of my culture and experience with it isn't as fleshed out and vibrant as it could be, so if this is inaccurate in any ways, I do apologize  
> I build my stories based on my personal experience a lot of the time and it shows   
> Also, just saying, y'all should watch Over the Moon. It's such a cute movie and beautifully animated and the songs are excellent. 
> 
> Title of this fic is taken from Over the Moon (if you hadn't guessed that already)

There was a small pastry of some sort on Jon’s desk.

He had left his office just for a moment, going to retrieve some documents from Tim, and when he came back the small pastry was there. Walking back out of his office, the pastry in hand, Jon looked at his assistants. “Can anyone explain? Please,” he added as an afterthought. 

“It’s a mooncake!” Martin said, flashing a warm smile at Jon. “Autumn festival started today, so I brought mooncakes in for everyone. Used to make them with my grandmother before she passed, it felt nice to make some again.”

Jon looked from the mooncake back to Martin, who was still smiling at Jon. He could see Tim and Sasha snickering from the corner of his eye. “I… I see. Well, then, thank you, Martin.” Jon turned to retreat back to his office, hearing the chatter that followed as they thought he left earshot. “Hey, at least he didn’t yell at you!”

As the door to his office closed, Jon studied the little mooncake. While he was aware of Martin’s Chinese roots, he hadn’t known that he partook in these celebrations. Nor did he know that the man could bake, but it was evident that he was rather proficient at it as the mooncake tasted nice when Jon bit into it. Nodding to himself, Jon set the now bitten cake back down on the napkin it had been on and returned to sorting through statements. 

There was a knock on the door as Jon finished reading a statement, Martin peeking his head through the crack. “I brought you some tea if you’re not busy?”

“Come in, Martin,” Jon said, riffling through the statements yet again, looking for the other one he marked for recording today. “Thank you, Martin,” he said absentmindedly as Martin set the cup of tea down at the edge of his desk. Instead of leaving, however, Martin hovered around the edge of Jon’s sight. He looked up, “Is everything alright?”

“Did you not like it?” Martin asked, gesturing meekly to the mooncake. He seemed embarrassed and almost immediately started to backtrack. “Not that you had to! A lot of people actually don’t like them, my mum for instance, it’s just my gran’s recipe was always at least better than store bought and-”

“Martin!” Jon said, sharply but not meanly, stopping the ramble. “It was very good, I just got distracted is all,” he said, gesturing to the piles of statements. 

Martin looked at him sheepishly. “Oh, of course, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, Martin,” Jon said, reaching for the mooncake and taking another bite. “Thank you for bringing these in. I’m afraid to say I don’t know much about the festival you referenced earlier, but the mooncake was a nice surprise.”

Martin laughed a little, a soft sound that warmed Jon from the inside out. “Jonathan Sims? Not knowing about something?”

Jon scowled but laughed after a moment. “I’m allowed to not know  _ everything _ , Martin.” Martin smiled at him and Jon was ready to let that be the end of things and get back to work, but something inside him decided against that. “Tell me about it?”

“Really?” Martin said, eyes wide. Jon nodded, gesturing to the seat across from him. Martin sat down, eyes still full of wonder as he looked at Jon who took another bite from the mooncake. “I’ll be honest, my mum and gran never really talked about the festival itself, just the myth behind it. Are you still interested? It’s… Well, I’m sure you’d think it’s childish.”

Martin wasn’t looking at Jon, clearly embarrassed about having brought up the myth at all. Jon, against his better judgement, reached out and laid a hand on his arm, startling back to looking at Jon. “I’d like to hear about it, if you’re still willing to tell me.”

A soft, shy smile found its way onto Martin’s face as Jon retracted his arm, giving Martin his full attention. “Well, it starts with the archer Hou Yi. He was the one who shot nine of the ten suns out of the sky.”

“Ten suns?” Jon asked incredulously. “That’s far too many.”

Chuckling a little, Martin said, “It’s a myth, Jon. I’m not trying to insinuate that there were really ten suns at one point.” Jon smiled, laughing a little. Martin continued, “He was granted an elixir giving immortality for this. But he wasn’t sure that he wanted to take it, as he didn’t want to leave his wife, Chang’e behind if he became immortal.”

Jon was leaning forward a bit in his seat, clearly interested in seeing where the story went. Martin expected him to protest the concept of immortality, but he didn’t, eyes fixed on Martin as if waiting for him to continue. “He decided against taking it, in the end. Loved Chang’e enough to turn it down and just live a mortal life. This is where my gran and my mum differed on the story, though. My gran always told me that someone broke in and tried to steal the elixir while Hou Yi was away, forcing Chang’e to take it for herself. Mum always said she was selfish and just didn’t want Hou Yi to be immortal. Either way, Chang’e takes the elixir and becomes immortal, fleeing to the moon to avoid having to face Hou Yi again.”

Throughout the story, Jon had been watching Martin intently, clearly enraptured. As he mentioned Chang’e fleeing to the moon, Martin saw Jon’s face fall. “That’s… That’s incredibly sad, her having to be on the moon all alone like that. What happened to Hou Yi?”

“He remained on earth. For a while he was angry, but eventually he forgave Chang’e. Started leaving out her favorite fruits and desserts for her at night so she could see he still cared for her. That’s why we have the mooncakes, they’re in her honor.”

Martin moved to get up after that, but Jon stopped him. “What happened after? Did Hou Yi ever see Chang’e again?” His voice was small, almost childlike in Martin’s ears. 

Martin smiled sadly, shaking his head. “He died on earth, but she’s still up there on the moon without him.”

“Oh,” Jon said, looking a bit deflated. “That’s… That’s sad. They tell this story to children?”

“It was my favorite story as a kid,” Martin said. “Yes, it’s sad, but there’s something beautiful about the thought of waiting for your lost love, don’t you think?”

Jon frowned, seemingly unsatisfied by Martin’s answer. "Which do you think is the truth?"

"Pardon?"

"About her motive. Why would she take the elixir of immortality?" Jon seemed particularly troubled by this, surprising Martin. "Was she really so selfish as to leave him behind?"

"I don't think she would leave him on purpose," Martin said, smiling fondly at Jon. "She loved him. You don't just leave those you love without good reason."

This seemed to placate Jon some, allowing Martin to finally turn to take his leave. The story stuck with Jon for the rest of the day, however, clouding his thoughts as he tried to read through more statements. 

***

Martin sat beside Jon’s hospital bed, willing him to wake up. It had been months now and still nothing, not that Martin expected anything different. How could Jon possibly survive the blast that took out Tim? They were found so close together, it was a miracle that Jon was showing any signs of life at all.

If you counted brain activity in an unbreathing body life.

A loneliness unlike anything Martin had known before crept under his skin as he resolved to leave Jon there. Peter had requested him personally for a job now that Elias was in prison. It didn’t sit right with Martin, having to work for a man hand chosen by Elias, but what choice did he have? It’s not like he could leave the institute. 

Martin grabbed Jon’s hand, giving it one final squeeze before getting up and turning to leave. “I wish I could wait for you, but I don’t think I have it in me.”

Jon would wake up a week later, with Martin completely unaware as he started his work for the Lonely, letting the numbness start to creep in. 

***

“He did it for you, you know,” Elias said coolly as Jon stared into the space where Martin should have been. “Willingly gave himself over to the Lonely so he could protect you. Said, well,  _ thought _ , it would be worth leaving you behind if it meant you were safe. Some stupid myth about the moon drifting through his mind every so often, the idiot romantic he was.”

Jon glared at Elias. “I’m getting him back.”

“He’s in the Lonely, Archivist,” Elias said, a bored expression on his face. “There’s no getting him back from that.”

Jon didn’t listen, trying to draw the Lonely to him. He heard Elias snort, then suddenly he was surrounded by fog. Distantly, he could hear waves crashing on an unseen shore, sand crunching beneath his feet as he ran, calling Martin’s name.

His encounter with Peter is a brief blip in his mind, far too focused on finding Martin to care about the statement he just drew out or the fact that Peter was dead. Jon found Martin after that, saw him sitting alone in the sand. “Martin!”

“Go away, Jon,” Martin said, voice a hollow imitation of his usual self. “I don’t want to see you.”

“Elias said you did this for me,” Jon said, tears he didn’t know were welling up starting to spill. “Why would you do this?”

“I really loved you, you know?” Martin said, still looking vacantly off into the distance. “I thought I could keep you safe. It’s safe here. I’m safe here.”

Jon knelt down in front of Martin, reaching for his hands. Martin allowed him to take them, still not looking at Jon. “You remember that story you told me? About Hou Yi and Chang’e?”

“She betrayed him,” Martin said coolly, dully. His voice flat but taking on a sharp edge, as if trying to say to Jon  _ I betrayed you _ . 

“She protected him. She  _ loved _ him,” Jon said, squeezing Martin’s hands. “I always found it unfair that she had to be all alone on the moon just for trying to protect the prize of the one she loved.”

“She deserved what she got. Some people are meant to be alone.”

“She wasn’t,” Jon said, taking Martin’s face in his hands. “ _ You _ aren’t. Look at me, Martin. Tell me what you see.”

Jon could feel some warmth beginning to find its way back to Martin’s cheeks, still firmly held in Jon’s hands. His eyes began to fill with some clarity as Jon directed his Sight to Martin, allowing Martin to see himself how Jon saw him. “I see… I see you, Jon. I see you!” Martin threw his arms around Jon, burying his face in Jon’s chest. “I… I was so alone…”

“I’m sorry,” Jon said, holding Martin tightly to him. “I’m so sorry, Martin. I never meant to leave you alone like that. You’re not alone. Not anymore,” Jon withdrew, moving to stand up and extending a hand to Martin. Martin took it, lacing their fingers together as he stood. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

***

They were sitting on the couch in the safe house a few days after arriving when Martin brought it up. “I’m surprised you remembered the story.”

“What story?” Jon asked, looking up at Martin from his position with his head on Martin’s lap. 

“About Hou Yi and Chang’e. You brought it up in the Lonely, I didn’t think you’d remember it,” Martin said, carding a hand through Jon’s hair. Jon blushed a bit. “What?”

“Well… That was the first time I really noticed how much I cared for you,” Jon said, reaching out and grabbing the hand that wasn’t currently running through his hair. “Something about hearing you tell that story… it filled me with a warmth and, and fondness, I suppose. For you.”

A wide grin broke out on Martin’s face. “Really?” Jon nodded, still looking a bit sheepish. Martin pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. “That’s sweet, Jon.” They were quiet for a moment before Martin spoke again. “I think you were right.”

“About what?”

“She should’ve gotten a happy ending,” Martin said, looking around the safehouse before looking back at Jon. “She was just trying to protect her love. She didn’t deserve to be alone for that.”

Jon smiled, reaching up to caress Martin’s cheek. “I’m glad you see that,” he whispered out, looking at Martin with such fondness in his eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated but never required. I have rebranded all of the social medias I'm active on (including this ao3 account) so you can now find me on tumblr, twitch, twitter, and the RQ discord as probsnothawkeye! I am around in a lot of RQ and RQ adjacent twitch chats. College has started back up for me, but I'm looking to do more writing in my spare time as a way to relax, so if you enjoyed this and want to see more, feel free to leave me a prompt in the comments or on tumblr!


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